I will be the first to admit that I have been stuck in the past. It’s what I know better than what lies ahead. I’ve been accused of a lack of forward thinking because I tend to reminisce a bit too much in this space.

Many of you, my readers, often let me know that you, too, enjoy looking back at the way things used to be. Whether it was the stores we could shop in along Main and Market streets or the crowded sidewalks before the advent of shopping malls.

I get it. Things were so different then, but so was the world we knew. As things changed, some of us got angry or sad or felt left behind. Change is hard the older we get. Trust me, I say things now that I heard my parents say although I swore I would never be like them. Funny how that happens.

But like the song popular in 1972, “I Can See Clearly Now,” my hometown is taking on new landscapes that allow us to see things in a different light — literally.

Have you taken in the new view of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge now that the eyesore of a former hotel and hotspot is gone? At night, the bridge is glowing with its necklace of lights, saying, hey, look at me.

How about the new vistas in Center Wheeling. As the former Ohio Valley Medical Center and Center Wheeling parking garage have met the wrecking ball, there is new light streaming throughout the area.

I never noticed before the beauty of the Centre Wheeling Fellowship Church on Eoff Street. It can be seen clearly now that the garage is gone. It’s a stately structure that serves many in the area.

Even in my childhood stomping grounds, the changes have been multiplying. The former Burger Chef which became Hardees on National Road in Woodsdale also disappeared into the dumpsters. In its place we have a very popular Dunkin’ Donuts store. While it didn’t change the topography much, the new store is sleek and modern in a neighborhood that boasts of older homes and structures.

There is still green space next to the store that has yet to be developed. The property once housed Spic and Span, a longtime dry cleaner. We shall see what develops.

Across the street from the empty lots, a bank building to house Unified Bank is under construction. It takes the place of what used to be a nightclub then a restaurant which was showing its age. This is progress.

There are more good things on the horizon with the promise of a grand hotel development and new condos downtown. The old is making way for the new and that’s a good thing.

So I refer once again to the song: “I can see clearly now … it’s gonna be a bright, sunshiny day.

Look all around, there’s nothin’ but blue skies. Look straight ahead, nothin’ but blue skies.”

Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.